Shanda Bonn
Teach Now M2 U5 A3
Planning for English Language Learners
You Can’t Take it With You
Lesson plan with learning supports for ELLs
This is for a high school theater class studying the play You Can’t Take it With You. The objectives are to understand and identify the elements of story structure and improve verbal and nonverbal communication.
Activity 1: Plot structure is introduced with the use of visual aids in both English and other native languages. To further aid students at all fluency levels, the class will watch a short, silent film such as Pixar’s One Man Band, with the teacher stopping the film at each plot point and filling out a graphic organizer projected onto the whiteboard.
Activity 2: Student groups will make a personal connection, apply the concepts they learned, and practice writing skills. Instructions are given orally and in writing, including written instructions in a student’s native language for those who have not yet reached intermediate fluency. The teacher will pair Intermediate/Advanced Fluency ELLs or a native English speaker with an ELL at a lower level of fluency to support them in their work. Students will tell each other short childhood stories about a time when something happened to them that was exceptionally sad, scary or exciting. After sharing their stories, they will fill out a graphic organizer for each plot point of their personal story. The less fluent students will be aided by their peers to write short SVO sentences for each plot point (Subject-Verb-Object).
Activity 3: I will project images of the main characters (from film or Broadway casts) and write each character’s basic information (name, age, relationship to other characters) on the board. Students will copy the basic info onto a Character Analysis worksheet. The students leave blank the characters’ traits, motivations, actions and arc until later in the unit. This visual identification and basic info helps the students better follow the play as they read it.
Activity 4: Students will listen to an audio recording of the play while reading along to reinforce reading comprehension for all fluency levels. I will pause at the end of each scene to write a simple summary of the scene on the board for students to copy onto a Scene Breakdown worksheet. Students will then label on their own which part of the plot they believe each scene fits into.
Activity 5: After an explanation of Character Traits (with lists of adjectives in English and native languages), Motivations (what the character wants), Actions (what the character does to get what s/he wants) and Arc (how a character has changed by the end of the story), student groups will work together to complete the Character Worksheets.
Activity 6: Students will be cast in short group scenes. Each group will have a mix of fluency levels with smaller roles going to the less fluent. The students will create basic movement, memorize the lines and present the scenes to the class. Groups will rehearse independently, allowing me to work with each group for a certain amount of time each day. These group work sessions will give me time to help ELLs with pronunciation. I found in learning French that by knowing how a sound is made not only helped my speaking ability but my comprehension as well. I can demonstrate where to place the lips, teeth and tongue as well as where in the mouth the sound resonates from. And by this time in the lesson, students know the play and characters well enough to understand how tone, inflection, and body language affects meaning and intention.
(Note: This is adapted from one of my previous lessons. It is a 6-week lesson plan and is supplemented with lots of fun ice breakers, theater games and voice and diction exercises.)
